Small piece laundry folding machine

ABSTRACT

A small piece laundry folding machine including support platen means over which the laundry pieces are moved in longitudinally spaced relation, with the longitudinal marginal portions to be folded depending therefrom. A first fold plate folds one of the longitudinal marginal portions of each laundry piece beneath the support platen means and, as a second fold plate folds the other longitudinal marginal portion thereof, a tight-fold plate tightly holds said other longitudinal portion of the laundry piece involved tightly around the longitudinal edge of the support platen means so the second fold plate will form a straight tight fold. The longitudinally folded laundry pieces after being fed through a transverse folding portion of the machine are fed one at a time over confronting trapdoor-forming panels by an overhead belt conveyor. Laundry piece position sensing means are provided for effecting the stoppage of the overhead belt conveyor as each laundry piece reaches a discharge station, and the dropping of the panels to permit the laundry piece to drop by force of gravity onto a stacking surface.

United States Patent Patton, Jr.

[ 1 Feb. 15,1972

[54] SMALL PIECE LAUNDRY FOLDING MACHINE [72] Inventor: Charles W. Patton, Jr., Chicago, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Super Laundry Machinery Company,

Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Sept. 26, 1969 [2l] Appl.No.: 861,365

Primary Examiner-Wm. H. Grieb I Attomey-Wallenstein, Spangenberg, l-lattis & Strampel [57] ABSTRACT A small piece laundry folding machine including support platen means over which the laundry pieces are moved in longitudinally spaced relation, with the longitudinal marginal portions to be folded depending therefrom. A first fold plate folds one of the longitudinal marginal portions of each laundry piece beneath the support platen means and, as a second fold plate folds the other longitudinal marginal portion thereof, a tight-fold plate tightly holds said other longitudinal portion of the laundry piece involved tightly around the longitudinal edge of the support platen means so the second fold plate will fonn a straight tight fold' The longitudinally folded laundry pieces after being fed through a transverse folding portion of the machine are fed one at a time over confronting trapdoorforming panels by an overhead belt conveyor. Laundry piece position sensing means are provided for effecting the stoppage of the overhead belt conveyor as each laundry piece reaches a discharge station, and the dropping of the panels to pemiit the laundry piece to drop by force of gravity onto a stacking surface.

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7 EVENTOR as W PATTON SMALL PIECE LAUNDRY FOLDING MACHINE This invention relates to small piece laundry folding machines for automatically folding towels, shirts, blouses and the like.

The small piece laundry folding machines of the prior art have left much to be desired from the standpoint of reliability at high feeding rates, the consistent provision of straight tight folds and the automatic in-line stacking of the folded laundry pieces at the discharge station of the machine. Also, the machines frequently are not always readily adaptable to laundry pieces of various sizes and thicknesses.

The longitudinal marginal portions of a laundry piece are commonly folded by draping the laundry piece over a support platen so the opposite longitudinal marginal portions thereof to be folded extend downwardly over the longitudinal edges of the platen. A foldplate having an inwardly facing and inclining edge passing under the support platen folds one of the longitudinal marginal portions of the laundry piece beneath the support platen as the laundry piece moves longitudinally relative to the fold plate. A second fold plate which also has a laterally oppositely inwardly facing inclining edge passing under the support platen then comes into play to fold the second longitudinal marginal portion of the laundry piece beneath the support platen. It has often been found difficult to form a straight tight fold during the second folding operation, particularly with bulky materials such as towels and the like. Instead, the second fold is sometimes loose and extends at an angle so that the folded laundry piece does not have a square edge on the side thereof involved.

Additionally, when such laundry folding machines are required to fold laundry pieces of various lengths and thicknesses, the method used for automatically stacking the folded laundry pieces at a discharge station of the machine particularly frequently failed to provide neat, self-supporting stacks, with the resultant inconvenience in handling and packaging of the folded laundry pieces.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a laundry folding machine of substantially increased reliability to prior relative laundry folding machines. A related object of the invention is to provide a small piece laundry machine which is more effective in consistently producing folded laundry pieces with square edges. A further related object of the invention is to provide a small piece laundry folding machine as described which can operate at relatively highspeed rates and is adaptable to laundry pieces of various types.

Another object of the invention is to provide a laundry folding machine as described which automatically stacks laundry pieces of various lengths and thicknesses in neat in-line stacks.

A further object of the invention is to provide a laundry folding machine as described which is of relatively simple and economical construction.

In accordance with one of the features of the present invention, in addition to the usual fold plates which effect the folding of opposite longitudinal marginal portions of a laundry piece draped over a support platen so the longitudinal marginal portions thereof depend downwardly from the longitudinal edges of the platen, there is provided a tight-fold plate which holds the second to be folded longitudinal marginal portion of the laundry piece snugly around the edge portion of the platen so the associated fold plate will form a tight straight fold.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a unique means for handling the folded laundry pieces at the discharge station of the machine, so that folded laundry pieces of various lengths and thicknesses are discharged by dropping the same onto a stacking surface in almost perfect vertical alignment at the leading edges thereof. To this end, the folded laundry pieces are preferably moved one at a time over a pair of laterally confronting trapdoor-forming panels by an overhead belt conveyor means which pushes the laundry pieces into position over the panels. When the laundry piece being fed to the discharge station passes a given reference position, a laundry piece sensing means effects stoppage of the overhead belt conveyor and the confronting panels are quickly dropped at the instant when the longitudinal movement of the laundry pieces comes to a halt, so, that there is no horizontal component of motion of the laundry pieces when they are dropped onto the stacking surface. The dropping of the panels is most advantageously under control of a second laundry piece position sensing means which is spaced from the first-mentioned laundry piece position sensing means in the direction of movement of the conveyor a distance equal to the coasting distance of the overhead belt conveyor. This assures substantial vertical alignment of the leading edges of the folded laundry pieces when dropped upon the stacking surface. 7

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent upon making reference to the specification to follow, the claims and the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a small piece laundry folding machine to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the machine shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view, partly broken away of the folding portion of the machine shown in FIG. 3 taken along viewing plane 44 therein;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional views taken along viewing plane 5-5 in FIG. 3, showing the adjustable platens respectively in relatively closely spaced and substantially spaced relation;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken along viewing plane 6-6 in FIG. 2, showing the linkage mechanism for moving the adjustable platens toward and away from one another;

FIGS. 7 through 9 are respectively somewhat enlarged fragmentary vertical section views of the longitudinal folding portion of the machine, taken along viewing planes 7- 7, 88 and 9-9 respectively in FIG. 4, and showing the sequence of the longitudinal folding operations carried out by the machine;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the stacking portions of the machine;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view through the stacking portion of the machine, illustrating the manner in which the folded laundry pieces are supported prior to their being dropped onto a stacking surface; and

FIG. 12 is a greatly enlarged plan view of a pair of laundry piece position sensing switches which are operative to effect the proper discharge and stacking of the folded laundry pieces.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the small piece folding machine there shown and generally indicated by reference number 2 is shown as a portable unit having a housing 4 supportable on casters 6 for movement to a suitable location where the casters may be removed or the base of the unit otherwise fixedly supported upon support legs 7 so the housing cannot move about during the operation of the machine. The machine 2 has an input feed table assembly generally indicated by reference number 8 comprising a main bottom section 10 normally inclining downwardly toward the front of the machine at an angle depending the position of an adjustment knob 12. The bottom section 10 of the input feeding table assembly includes a metal frame 14 pivoted at the upper extremity thereof at a pivot point 15. A centrally located depending arm 16 is secured to a pivot plate 18 from which extends an angle member 20 having a threaded opening through which passes the threaded shank portion of a screw 22 to which the knob 12 is attached. As the control knob 12 is rotated, the angle member 20 varies in position to vary the angle of the pivot plate 18, in turn, varying the position of the arm 16 to vary the angle of the frame 14 to which the upper end of the arm 16 is connected.

The bottom section of the feed table assembly has a series of forwardmost belt receiving rolls 25 mounted on a common shaft 26 and a rearwardmost belt receiving roll 29 about which a number of laterally spaced ribbon feed belts 31 extend. A

pair of short outer ribbon belts 3131 preferably extend about only the front roll 25 and an intermediate roll 27.:The roll 29 is driven by any suitable pulley belt drive (not shown) to impart movement to the ribbon feed belts 31 and 31'. The upper section of the ribbon feedbelts 31 and 31' pass over a metal feed table 33 which acts as a backing for the ribbon feed belts 31-31. The source of drive power for the various drive rolls is an electric motor 34 mounted within the lower section ofthe housing 4.

The laundry pieces which are placed on the feed table assembly 8 in a spread out and flattened condition are manually or otherwise pushed beneath a pressure roll 40 forming part of the upper section 10' of the feed table assembly 8 and pressing the ribbon feed belts 31 and 31 upon the intermediate roll 27. The pressure roll 40 is mounted on the forward end of a frame 42 which is pivoted at the upper end thereof and drops by force of gravity upon the ribbon belts 31 and 31 of the lower section 10 of the feed table assembly 8. The frame 42 carries a front hugger roll 44 around which extends the end sections of a pair of main ribbon feed belts 47--47 forming a main overhead belt conveyor section 48 for the laundry pieces to be handled by the machine. The ribbon feed belts 4747 pass over and under various rolls like belt tension applying rolls 49-49 mounted on a common shaft 50 carried on a tension adjusting frame 54 at the top of the machine, end rolls 51-51 positioned on a common pulley belt driven shaft 51 at the opposite end of the conveyor section 48, roll 29 and tension roll 52. The drive rolls l5l are located at an elevation below the upper rolls 49-49 so that the ribbon feed belts 47-47 incline downwardly and inwardly within the housing compartment 46, as best illustrated in FIG. 2.

The pieces of laundry fed upon the ribbon feed belts 31 at the forward end of the lower section of the feed table assembly will thus be pushed beneath the front hugger roll where the belts 31 and 47 carry the laundry piece to a downwardly inclining platen assembly 53 (FIG. 3) where the opposite longitudinal marginal portions 57a-57a of the laundry pieces 57 extend downwardly over the edges of the assembly (FIGS. 5A or 5B). The platen assembly 53 includes a main central stationary platen 54 over which the central portions of the laundry pieces 57 are passed by the lower section of the ribbon feed belts 47, and a pair of platen plates 5555 which are movable from the retracted position shown in FIG. 5A to an extended position shown in FIG. 5B. The movable platens 55-55 are located immediately below the stationary platen 54 and in their retracted positions are located within the longitudinal edges of the main platen 54. In the other positions of the movable platens 5555, the outer longitudinal edges of the movable platens 55-55 are spaced varying distances laterally outwardly of the longitudinal edges of the main platen 54. The movable platens 5555 thus form an adjustment of the overall width of the platen assembly 53 to accommodate laundry pieces of different width.

The laundry pieces moving over the platen assembly are folded longitudinally so the marginal portion 57a is folded first. The machine is designed to fold the marginal portion 57a beneath the marginal portion 57a where the folds overlap one another, although frequently the folded portions are spaced apart.

Referring most particularly to FIGS. 4 and 7-9, the first longitudinal fold is made in each laundry piece 57 by a more or less conventional fold plate 60 which is supported from the side wall of the housing 4 and has a laterally inwardly facing edge 60a, the forward end of which is spaced outside the path of movement of the laundry pieces, and which edge progressively inclines laterally inwardly first to approach the adjacent longitudinal edges of the platens 54 and 55 and then to pass under the same to terminate at a point adjacent the opposite longitudinal edges thereof. Thus, the right longitudinal downwardly extending marginal portion 57a of the laundry piece 57 is progressively pushed beneath the platen assembly 53 to complete a first folding operation on the laundry piece involved.

A second longitudinal fold is formed by a more or less conventional fold plate 62 which extends at an elevation somewhat below the elevation of the first fold plate 60. The leading edge of the fold plate 62 is positioned substantially rearwardly of the leading edge of the first fold plate 60 so that the fold plate 62 starts its folding operation after the plate 60 has completed at least part of the first fold in the laundry piece. The second fold plate 62 has a laterally inwardly facing edge 62a which, at its forward end, is positioned out of the path of travel of the laundry pieces 57 and progressively extends toward the adjacent longitudinal margin of the platen assembly and then beneath the same terminating at or beyond the opposite longitudinal margin thereof. Thus, the second fold plate 62 will first engage the left-hand longitudinal marginal portion 57a of the laundry piece 57 and tuck the same beneath the platen assembly 60. as best shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

In accordance with the present invention, formation of a crooked fold in the laundry piece 57 during the second folding operation described is prevented by a unique tight-fold plate 64. The tight-fold plate 64 has a very important but limited function of tightly tucking the left longitudinal marginal portion 57a of the laundry piece 57, initially extending downwardly from the platen assembly, around the adjacent longitudinal edge of the adjacent platen 55, as best shown in FIG. 8 before and during the engagement of the laundry piece by the second fold plate. The tight-fold plate 64 has a laterally inwardly facing edge 64a which at its forward end is also out of the path of travel of the laundry piece 54 but which approaches and then passes only a limited distance inwardly beneath the adjacent longitudinal edge of the nearest movable platen 55. The tight-fold platen 64 is in a plane immediately contiguous to the bottom surface of the latter movable platen 55. The second fold plate 62 is in a plane beneath the tightfold plate 64 and is effective in the forming of folds in that portion of the longitudinal marginal portions 57a of the laundry pieces which extend laterally inwardly of the inner edge of the tight-fold plate 64. The tight-fold plate 64 thus assures that the fold finally formed by the second fold plate 62 is a straight tight fold.

During the folding operation as described, it is important that the laundry pieces be positively fed without any jamming thereof over the stationary platen 54. Means for insuring the positive feeding of the laundry pieces independently of the thickness thereof comprise a pair of floating pressure plates 70 and 72 overlying longitudinally spaced portions of the ribbon feed belts 4747. The pressure plates 70 and 72 as illustrated have upwardly extending posts 74-74 and 76-76 which pass through guide apertures in an overhead support bar 78. The pressure plates 70-72 thus bears against the ribbon feed belts 4747 under the force of gravity and readily adapt themselves to different thicknesses of the laundry pieces passing between the ribbon feed belts and the main platen 54.

As previously indicated, the movable platens 5555 are adjustable in position to accommodate laundry pieces of varying width. As best shown in FIGS. 5A and 53, each of the movable platens 55 is secured to the top of a vertical plate 80 whose bottom end is secured to an apertured head piece 82 mounted for lateral sliding movement upon a pair of parallel rods 84- 84. The position of the headpieces 82 is determined by the degree to which a linkage assembly 86 (FIG. 6) is expanded or contracted by operation of a lever 88.

The lever 88 is pivotally supported at its inner end 88a on a pivot pin 90 for movement in a horizontal plane. A link arm 92 interconnects the middle portion of the lever 88 to a plate 94 pivoted upon a stationary pivot pin 96. The plate 94 is pivotally connected to a link arm 98, in turn, pivotally connected to mirror-image sections including a pair of rearwardly diverging link arms 100 connected at their rear ends by pins 102-102 to the head pieces 82-82. A pair of short link arms 104-104 extend between the middle portions of the link arms l00100 and a stationary pivot pin 106 about which the link arms 104-104 pivot. Thus, as the lever 88 is moved in a clockwise direction viewed in FIG. 6, the link arm 92 rotates the pivot plate 94 also in a clockwise direction which moves the link arm 98 to the left. As the link arm 98 moves to the left, the force communicated through the link arm 100-100 to the short link arms 104-104 will cause the angle between the latter arms to increase to bring the rear ends of the link arms 100-100 further apart. The movable platens 55-55, of course, move outwardly and inwardly with the outward and inward movement of the rear end portions of the link arms 100-100.

After the two longitudinal folds described are made in the laundry piece involved, a transverse fold automatically made at another portion of the machine to be described. The machine may be designed automatically to compute the length of each laundry piece to locate the midpoint thereof using laundry piece sensing means responding to the passage of the leading and/or trailing edges of each laundry piece, in a manner disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,154,726 of Edward L. McClain. One of these sensing means may be a switch unit 113 (FIG. 3) with a control arm 114 extending down between or on one side of the ribbon feed belts 47-47 to be in the path of movement of the laundry pieces moved along the platen as sembly. The other sensing means as illustrated is a switch unit 114 (FIG. 2) located opposite a transfer conveyor section 116 to which the laundry pieces are delivered. The switch unit 115 has a control arm 117 in the path of travel of the laundry pieces through the transfer conveyor section. An electrical computing circuit like that disclosed in said US. Pat. No. 3,154,726 may be provided to respond to the operation of the switch units 113 and 115 to determine the instant of time a folding blade 120 carried on the end of a pivot arm 122 is moved into position to effect a transverse fold in the laundry piece in a manner to be described.

The longitudinally folded laundry pieces are directed to the transfer conveyor section 116 by a suitable guide means like the rear end of the second fold plate 62 which angles toward a series of ribbon transfer belts 119 (FIG. 3) where opposite end sections pass around a drive roll 121 adjacent drive roll 51 and a roll 123, The longitudinally folded laundry pieces are discharged by ribbon drive belts 47-47 passing around the roll 51 upon he ribbon transfer belts 119. The longitudinally folded laundry pieces are held and conveyed in a compressed condition between the ribbon transfer belts 119 and another series of ribbon transfer belts 126 following an irregular path determined by the position of a drive roll 128 contiguous to the roll 51, and guide rolls 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, 123 and 128. A section of the ribbon transfer belts 126 engage the outer surface and move with the section of the ribbon transfer belts 119 passing around the roll 123 and extending to the spaced but contiguous rolls 128 and 123 which compress the center section of the ribbon transfer belts 119. The path of movement of the folded laundry pieces in the belt conveyor section 1 16 is determined by the elongated half-loop path over which the ribbon transfer belts 119 and 126 follow the same path. Each longitudinally folded laundry piece is discharged by the previously described ribbon feed belts 47 at a point near the bottom of the roll 51 and is guided by the rear end portion of the second fold plate 62 between the ribbon transfer belts 119 and 126 beneath the roll 128 which belts carry the laundry pieces sandwiched therebetween first upwardly to the left as viewed in FIG. 3 and then around the roll 123 where it is then moved downwardly to the right to a point in front of the roll 138 where it is free to be deflected downwardly by deflecting pins 142 against a vertical guide plate 144. When the midpoint of the laundry piece comes opposite the folding blade 120, the aforesaid laundry piece length computing circuit controlled by the sensor switches 113 and 115 momentarily operate the piston rod 162a of an air cylinder 162. The piston rod 162a is connected to the pivot arm 122. Said momentary operation of the piston rod extends the same to rock the pivoted arm 122 in a counterclockwise direction to push the folding blade to the left which tucks the laundry piece involved between the section of the aforementioned ribbon transfer belts 126 moving to the left beneath the roll 138 and a short series of driven ribbon feed belts 164 extending around relatively closely spaced rolls 166 and 168, thus folding the laundry piece transversely in half. The then overhead ribbon transfer belts 126 pass upwardly around roll 136 to leave contact with the folded laundry piece involved and the laundry piece is then impelled to the left by a series of overhead feed belts 169 passing between the ribbon transfer belts 126. The ribbon transfer belts 169 pass around and are guided by a left end guide roll 171, a drive roll 173 controlled by a suitable clutch 175 and a right end guide roll 177 positioned between the aforesaid rolls 136 and 138. A belt tension roller 176 carried on the end of a pivot arm 178 is provided to supply tension in the ribbon feed belts 169. The ribbon transfer belts 169 pass the completely folded laundry piece onto a pair of laterally confronting trapdoor-forming panels 179-179 (FIGS. 10 and 11) which are secured to the ends of crank arms 182-182 which pivot about longitudinally extending pivot rods 184-184 located laterally outwardly of the trapdoor-forming panels 179- 179.

The crank arms 182-182 are operated by air cylinders 185-185, in turn, controlled by an electric switch 187 having a control arm 187a positioned to be engaged by the leading edge of a folded laundry piece at approximately the point where the laundry piece is to be dropped from the laundry folding machine into a stacked condition therebelow upon a stacking surface 188 (FIG. 2). The switch 187 operates a solenoid (not shown), in turn, momentarily operating a valve controlling the feeding of air pressure to the air cylinders 185- 185. When air pressure is applied to the cylinders 185-185, air cylinder rods 185a-185a will retract to rock the crank arms 182-182 in a direction to drop the trapdoor-forming panels 179-179 to permit the laundry piece involved to drop under force of gravity below the machine. The trapdoor-forming panels then immediately return to their horizontal position.

The trapdoor-forming panels 179-179 are not opened until the overhead ribbon feed belts 169 have come to a halt so that the laundry piece when dropped has no horizontal component of motion. (Such a horizontal component of motion would cause the leading edges of the stacked laundry pieces to be out of line, particularly so when pieces of different length or thickness are involved, where the inertial characteristics vary.) This is assured in the most advantageous form of the invention by using separate sequentially operated control means for operating the trapdoor-forming panels and the means, such as the clutch 175, for stopping the ribbon feed belts 169 so that the signal for deenergizing the clutch is initiated ahead of the time the control arm a controlling the air cylinder is contacted by the laundry piece involved. Accordingly, a second switch unit is provided having a control arm 195a positioned to be engaged by a laundry piece moved over the panels 179-179 a distance D (see FIG. 12) in front of the position where control arms 187a is so engaged, which is the distance it takes the ribbon feed belts 169 to come to a complete stop once the control arm 195 a is operated. The spacing D and the position of the control arms 187a and 195a are made adjustable by mounting the switch units 187 and 195 respectively on separately adjustable carrier strips 197 and 199 as illustrated.

It should be apparent that the present invention provides a highly flexible, reliable, simply constructed small piece laundry folding machine which overcomes many of the problems of the prior art.

It should be understood that numerous modifications may be made in the most preferred form of the invention described above without deviating from the broader aspects of the invention.

Iclaim:

1. In a laundry folding machine for folding laundry pieces, said machine including support platen means over which the laundry pieces to be folded are moved in longitudinally spaced relation with the opposite longitudinal marginal portions to be folded extending downwardly over the longitudinal edges of the support platen means, first folding means for folding one of said longitudinal marginal portions of each laundry piece inwardly below said support platen means, and second folding means for folding the other of said longitudinal marginal portions of each laundry piece inwardly below said support platen means, the improvement comprising tight-fold producing means above said second folding means and positioned for holding the longitudinal marginal portion of the laundry piece to be folded by at least one of said folding means snugly around the adjacent longitudinal edge of the support platen means as the said one folding means is operative to complete the fold in the region located inwardly beyond the tight-fold producing means.

2. The laundry folding machine of claim 1 wherein said second folding means is sized and positioned to form a fold extending beneath the fold produced by said first folding means, and said tight-fold producing means being positioned to hold the associated longitudinal marginal portion of each laundry piece which is folded by said second folding means.

3. The laundry folding machine of claim 2 wherein said first and second folding means are plates in vertically offset planes and each is provided with laterally inwardly facing folding edges which incline inwardly in the direction of movement of the laundry pieces over said support platen means from a point at the forward end thereof spaced from the adjacent longitudinal edge of the support platen means and progressively approaching the same and then passing under the same to terminate adjacent the opposite side of the support platen means, and said tight-fold producing means is a plate at an elevation between said support platen means and said second folding plate and extending beneath the support platen means a short distance relative to the distance said second folding plate extends thereunder.

4. The laundry folding machine of claim 1 wherein said support platen means comprises a main upper stationary platen and a pair of horizontally movable platens supported in a plane immediately below that of said main support platen, said pair of movable support platens being horizontally movable so their outer longitudinal edges can be spaced outwardly of the opposite longitudinal edges of said main support platen varying distances to accommodate laundry pieces of different width.

5. The laundry folding machine of claim 4 wherein there are manually operable means provided for simultaneously moving said movable platens inwardly and outwardly so the opposite outer longitudinal edges thereof will be automatically and at all times spaced the same distance from the opposite longitudinal edges of said main support platen.

6. The laundry folding machine of claim wherein the means for moving said horizontally movable platens inwardly and outwardly include operating lever means, linkage means having mirror-image related sections which move outwardly and inwardly together upon movement of said operating lever means in one direction or the other and means connecting said mirror-image linkage sections to said horizontally movable platens.

7. In a laundry folding machine including support platen means over which the laundry pieces to be folded are draped with the opposite longitudinally extending marginal portions thereof extending downwardly beyond the longitudinal edges of the support platen means, and folding means for sequentially folding said opposite downwardly extending longitudinal portions of the laundry pieces beneath the support platen means, the improvement comprising overhead belt conveyor means for moving said laundry pieces over said support platen means where said folding means are operative to fold said laundry pieces, and pressure-applying means bearing down upon said overhead conveyor belt means to press the same against the laundry pieces therebeneath, support means for said pressure-applying means constraining the same against significant movement along said overhead belt conveyor means and permitting said pressure applyin means to move up and down automatically to accommodate aundry pieces of varying thickness sandwiched between said conveyor belt means and said support platen means.

8. The laundry folding machine of claim 7 wherein said pressure-applying means include separate longitudinally spaced pressure-applying means each independently mounted for up and down movement.

9. The laundry folding machine of claim 8 wherein there is associated with each pressure-applying means guide means for guiding each pressure-applying means for up and down movement upon the conveyor belt means, said pressure-applying means bearing down upon said conveyor belt means solely by the weight thereof.

10. The laundry folding machine of claim 8 wherein said pressure-applying means are separate, longitudinally spaced platelike members. 

1. In a laundry folding machine for folding laundry pieces, said machine including support platen means over which the laundry pieces to be folded are moved in longitudinally spaced relation with the opposite longitudinal marginal portions to be folded extending downwardly over the longitudinal edges of the support platen means, first folding means for folding one of said longitudinal marginal portions of each laundry piece inwardly below said support platen means, and second folding means for folding the other of said longitudinal marginal portions of each laundry piece inwardly below said support platen means, the improvement comprising tight-fold producing means above said second folding means and positioned for holding the longitudinal marginal portion of the laundry piece to be folded by at least one of said folding means snugly around the adjacent longitudinal edge of the support platen means as the said one folding means is operative to complete the fold in the region located inwardly beyond the tight-fold producing means.
 2. The laundry folding machine of claim 1 wherein said second folding means is sized and positioned to form a fold extending beneath the fold produced by said first folding means, and said tight-fold producing means being positioned to hold the associated longitudinal marginal portion of each laundry piece which is folded by said second folding means.
 3. The laundry folding machine of claim 2 wherein said first and second folding means are plates in vertically offset planes and each is provided with laterally inwardly facing folding edges which incline inwardly in the direction of movement of the laundry pieces over said support platen means from a point at the forward end thereof spaced from the adjacent longitudinal edge of the support platen means and progressively approaching the same and then passing under the same to terminate adjacent the opposite side of the support platen means, and said tight-fold producing means is a plate at an elevation between said support platen means and said second folding plate and extending beneath the support platen means a short distance relative to the distance said second folding plate extends thereunder.
 4. The laundry folding machine of claim 1 wherein said support platen means comprises a main upper stationary platen and a pair of horizontally movable platens supported in a plane immediately below that of said main support platen, said pair of movable support platens being horizontally movable so their outer longitudinal edges can be spaced outwardly of the opposite longitudinal edges of said main support platen varying distances to accommodate laundry pieces of different width.
 5. The laundry folding machine of claim 4 wherein there are manually operable means provided for simultaneously moving said movable platens inwardly and outwardly so the opposite outer longitudinal edges thereof will be automatically and at all times spaced the same distance from the opposite longitudinal edges of said main support platen.
 6. The laundry folding machine of claim 5 wherein the means for moving said horizontally movable platens inwardly and outwardly include operating lever means, linkage means having mirror-image related sections which move outwardly and inwardly together upon movement of said operating lever means in one direction or the other and means connecting said mirror-image linkage sections to said horizontally movable platens.
 7. In a laundry folding machine including support platen means over which the laundry pieces to be folded are draped with the opposite longitudinally extending marginal portions thereof extending downwardly beyond the longitudinal edges of the support platen means, and folding means for sequentially folding said opposite downwardly extending longitudinal portions of the laundry pieces beneath the support platen means, the improvement comprising overhead belt conveyor means for moving said laundry pieces over said support platen means where said folding means are operative to fold said laundry pieces, and pressure-applying means bearing down upon said overhead conveyor belt means to press the same against the laundry pieces therebeneath, support means for said pressure-applying means constraining the same against significant movement along said overhead belt conveyor means and permitting said pressure applying means to move up and down automatically to accommodate laundry pieces of varying thickness sandwiched between said conveyor belt means and said support platen means.
 8. The laundry folding machine of claim 7 wherein said pressure-applying means include separate longitudinally spaced pressure-applying means each independently mounted for up and down movement.
 9. The laundry folding machine of claim 8 wherein there is associated with each pressure-applying means guide means for guiding each pressure-applying means for up and down movement upon the conveyor belt means, said preSsure-applying means bearing down upon said conveyor belt means solely by the weight thereof.
 10. The laundry folding machine of claim 8 wherein said pressure-applying means are separate, longitudinally spaced platelike members. 